Friday, February 27, 2015

A former dairy cow was so saddened by memories of her previous babies being taken away by a farmer that she hid her newborn calf to keep her from being taken, too. Clarabelle was rescued from a dairy farm in late November by the Australian farm sanctuary Edgar's Mission. She was hours away from slaughter at the farm, where her milk production was too low to bother keeping her alive. When Clarabelle arrived at the rescue, volunteers discovered she was pregnant.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Buzzfeed is going all in with experimental apps. After acquiring GoPop last week, its launching its first experimental app. As expected, it’s so full of cute animals, your heart may burst. Available today, theCute or Not app for iOS is a mix of the oldHot or Not siteand Tinder. You’re presented with a cat or dog and you swipe right if it’s cute and left if it’s not. I mean come on, you’re going to be swiping right about 95 percent of the time.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

New scientific data shows that cats, long a symbol of mysticism, are able to see things that are invisible to us. Cats apparently see psychedelic stripes on flowers and patterns on the wings of birds that are completely invisible to the human eye. According to this study, cats, dogs, and some other animals are able to see types of light, like UV light, that we don’t see at all. “There are plenty of things that reflect UV radiation, which some sensitive animals are able to see, while we are not,” said Ronald Douglas, professor of biology of the City University of London and co-author of the study. “For example, these may be certain patterns on flowers that show where the nectar is, or traces of urine of an animal. Also, reindeer can and see polar bears as the snow reflects UV radiation, while white fur does not.”

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Missan, 29, may be the world’s oldest cat, according to its Swedish owner who says that aside from suffering from some minor back and kidney problems, there is no reason why her furry friend won't make it to the grand age of 30. Missan the Swedish farm cat is turning 30 this spring and may be the world oldest living cat. By far. “I read an article about another cat that was supposed to be the world’s oldest, and I just thought to myself: ‘mine is older!’,” Missan’s owner Åsa Wickberg, from Karlskoga, told the TT news agency.http://tinyurl.com/oft4mvp

Friday, February 20, 2015

Researchers at Yale are using cognitive interactive studies to learn more about how dogs’ minds work. Laurie Santos, director of the Yale Canine Cognition Center, explains that hundreds of volunteer dogs are used as subjects of puppet shows and a series of other cognitive tests. “Dogs are just fascinating,” Santos said. “We love them, they live in our homes. Anyone who hangs out with a dog is kind of wondering, ‘what are they thinking, do they love me’.”

Thursday, February 19, 2015

An upper Manhattan woman slept outside in a makeshift shelter for two days straight — braving ruthless winds and bone-chilling temperatures — as she risked her life to save a stray dog from freezing to death. When temperatures in The Big Apple plummeted to record lows over the weekend, Denise Lauffer, 40, knew she had to do something drastic to ensure the survival of Charlie, a local feral dog who was in desperate need of medical care.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

She’s one regal beagle! A 15-inch, 4-year-old beagle named Miss P won the Westminster’s Best in Show at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. She beat out aShih Tzu owned by newspaper heiress Patty Hearstand a Portuguese water dog that is a cousin of the Obamas’ family pet, Sunny.http://tinyurl.com/mrkzbnt

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

News of oil spills wreaking havoc on wildlife is enough to make people throw their fists in the air and question their faith in humanity—but they’d be glad to hear about one centenarian from Down Under. Alfred Date, 109, has been knitting sweaters and scarves for friends and family for 80 years. Last year, he began making sweaters for some new clients: penguins affected by oil spills in Australia. The Penguin Foundation put out a plea for sweaters to be used for oiled penguins being treated at the wildlife clinic of Phillip Island Nature Parks. About 32,000 of the birds live on Phillip Island, where oil spills are not uncommon.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Now through Tuesday, the Westminster Kennel Club doggedly trots out its idea of purebred perfection. But as readers of The Post have proved for the last two years, a pup doesn’t need a pedigree to be top dog. This year’s no different, as dog lovers from as far away as Cheshire, England, wrote to tell us about the mutts — many of them rescues — who brighten their lives. “She is definitely no pedigree,” writes Upper West Sider Joe Simon of his 5-year-old Chihuahua mix, Alice. “She is missing a few teeth and has an underbite, has lopsided ears and a tail that curls up like a piglet’s. This makes her all the more beautiful to us, and we wouldn’t have her any other way!” Meet this year’s Best in Show, mixed-breed division:http://tinyurl.com/m3uts5y

Friday, February 13, 2015

There’s no denying the bond that develops between people and their pets. A miniature schnauzer in Cedar Rapids proved that nothing, even distance, can break that bond. Nancy Franck and her two miniature schnauzers, Sissy and Barney, live in southeast Cedar Rapids. Franck, however, has been staying 15 to 20 blocks away at Mercy Medical Center following a surgery. She’s been in the hospital for about two weeks. Last Saturday Nancy’s husband, Dale, was devastated when Sissy unexpectedly ran away from home “We looked up and there was this dog that was just running across the lobby,” said Mercy Security Officer Samantha Conrad.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Forget crocodiles and snakes, the real animal threat in Australia is wild pigs. At least if you’re camping. At a campground in Western Australia over the weekend, a feral pig guzzled down 18 beers that had been left out improperly secured. And just like anyone 18 beers in at a rural dive bar, the pig got big-headed and decided to start a fight with a cow, resulting in the cow chasing the pig around a car. “In the middle of the night these people camping opposite us heard a noise, so they got their torch out and shone it on the pig and there he was, scrunching away at their cans,” said a visitor. The pig was later reported sleeping his hangover (and shame of trying to take down a cow?) off under a tree.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

When Animal Liberation was published, I hoped that, 40 years on, there would be no more slaughterhouses – and therefore no more newspaper stories about atrocities like the one at an abattoir in the north of England. The arguments against our oppression of animals seemed to me so clear and irrefutable that surely a powerful movement would arise, consigning these abuses to history, as the anti-slavery movement had put an end to the African slave trade.http://tinyurl.com/nvzq54b

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

On the southwest coast of Borneo, the villages surroundingGunung Palung National Park are participating in an experiment that has slashed illegal logging while improving residents’ health, which in turn helps the endangered orangutans that live in the forest. “We like to say that we save the rainforest with a stethoscope,” said Kinari Webb, founder of Health in Harmony, a nonprofit that provides medical care to villagers.

Monday, February 9, 2015

In a state that relies heavily on agriculture, animal welfare is an important issue. When problems arise, the Humane Society of the United States is among those called to investigate and seek resolution. The Burlington Free Press interviewed Joanne Bourbeau, northeastern regional director, state affairs for the Humane Society. Edited excerpts:http://tinyurl.com/lg9vohw

Friday, February 6, 2015

Farm animals used in federal experiments to help the meat industry would receive new protections against mistreatment and neglect under legislation introduced on Thursday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both houses of Congress. The bill aims to extend the federal Animal Welfare Act to shield cows, pigs, sheep and other animals used for agricultural research at federal facilities, including the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., a unit of the Department of Agriculture. The act, which became law in 1966, excluded those animals, focusing largely on cats and dogs used in laboratory research.http://tinyurl.com/qcpcc9m

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Federal officials on Wednesday granted a long-captive killer whale the same status that her wild kin have under the Endangered Species Act. But for now, Lolita, the Florida-held orca, won't be changing addresses as a result. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined thatLolita, a killer whale living since 1970 at the Miami Seaquarium, shares the established federal status of the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales of the Pacific Northwest coast. But the change in status doesn't compel the Miami Seaquarium to get her a bigger pool, return her to the wild, or do much of anything else so far, according to NOAA officials.http://tinyurl.com/k9og9eq

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

His wrinkly skin, cataracts and difficulty swallowing are common enough in old age. But Jonathan had been ambling around for a century before today’s pensioners were born. At the age of 183, this tortoise is thought to be the world’s oldest living land creature. Born in 1832 at the latest, he has plodded through two world wars and numerous revolutions, outlasting all his human companions. He was even photographed, looking rather elderly, with a prisoner during the Boer War, which ended in 1902.http://tinyurl.com/l64dfl6

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Throughout the world, there are said to be just over 25,000 orangutans left in the wild. Experts estimate that by the year 2023, they will be completely extinct. In an effort to curb the plight of the orangutan in Indonesia, as well as countless other animals, International Animal Rescue has stepped in. Recently, its team rescued a baby orangutan named Budi from a woman keeping him as pet.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Eighty-five puppies divided into teams Ruff and Fluff will tumble, prance and chase chew toys across a faux football field for the 11th annual Puppy Bowl, airing Sunday at 3 p.m. on Animal Planet — and two of those contenders will watch the program from the comfort of their new homes in the New York area. Finn and Duncan, like all of the participants, were homeless mutts before being selected for the event, which was filmed in Manhattan last October. Players are handpicked by producers via photos submitted from thousands of animal rescues across the country.